A fearsome and fully loaded handgun along with 29 rounds of ammunition were found in a bag stashed in a void in the kitchen of a Derby drug dealer's home.

£2,000 of cannabis, cocaine, dealer bags, and a list of customers were also discovered when detectives raided the Sinfin address of Elliott Mosley-Rodgers, Derby Crown Court heard.

A police search found the 21-year-old drug dealer holed up in a cupboard at a nearby house and now he has been put behind bars for six years after admitting possessing the weapon.

Jailing Mosley-Rodgers, Judge Robert Egbuna said: “Police operations are set up in various parts of the country and their purpose is to reduce the use of firearms which are the most treasured possession of a drug dealer.

Elliott Mosley-Rodgers has been jailed for six years (Image: Derbyshire police)

“They cause untold harm and are a prized possession of gang member and the consequence of the discharge of a firearm is fatal.

“You were found to be in possession of one that was fully loaded. And not just that, you were also in possession of 29 rounds of ammunition, a significant amount of live rounds that would have fitted that weapon.

“You are not someone that is naive, you are someone that understands what goes on in the streets.”

This fully-loaded handgun was found at the Sinfin home of Elliott Mosley-Rodgers (Image: Derbyshire police)

Sarah Allen, prosecuting, said police carried out a search warrant at Mosley-Rodger’s home in Sinfin Lane on July 12.

She said: “Hidden in a void in a kitchen unit panel was a bag which contained a handgun that was locked and ready to use.

“It was fitted with live rounds containing eight bullets in the gun itself and there were also 29 rounds of ammunition in the bag.

“It was a Makarov self-loading pistol which had been adapted so a silencer could fit on to it.”

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Miss Allen said more than 30g of cannabis was also discovered which would have had a street value of £2,000 and £300 of cocaine.

She said dealer lists, dealer bags and two sets of digital scales were also seized by detectives.

Miss Allen said: “The defendant was found hiding in a cupboard in a neighbouring property and was arrested, interviewed and answered ‘no comment’ to the questions he was asked.”

Mosley-Rodgers pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm without a licence, possession with intent to supply cannabis and possession of cocaine.

His co-accused, 27-year-old Aaron O’Donnell, of Donington Close, Sunny Hill, pleaded guilty possessing cannabis with intent to supply and was jailed for a year.

Christopher O'Donnell has been jailed for a year for associated drug offences (Image: Derbyshire police)

Steve Cobley, for Mosley-Rodgers, said his client was the eldest of four children and that his family was “finding it hard to comprehend just how he got himself in this situation”.

He said: “It is a familiar set of circumstances that we often hear in this court. He was a drug user and fell into debt and agreed to store the firearm.

“People look for a safe haven and look for someone they trust not to divulge their names to the police.”

Speaking after sentencing, Detective Constable Lottie Yeomans said: “We carried out a warrant at the address of Mosley-Rodgers and found a firearm, ammunition and cannabis in that house. We found Mosley-Rodgers himself hiding in a wardrobe at a nearby property, and he was duly arrested.

“During further investigation, we were led to the home of O’Donnell, who was then arrested for possessing a large quantity of cannabis that we believe would have been dealt within our community.

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“These sentences show not only how seriously we treat information like this when we receive it but also the methods we have at our fingertips to identify further offenders.

“Not only are two men who were involved in drugs possession in our communities now behind bars but we have taken a potentially deadly weapon off the streets too.”